Recently I went out to eat with friends and I order a vegetarian option. After getting playfully teased about eating rabbit food, the conversation turned to eating healthy, and the expenses of trying to maintain a healthy diet.
We also talked about gardening, canning, and the fact that they felt things were going to get much, much worse with the American economy.
While I am far from being a survivalist, I can honestly say that one of the reasons I want to learn to garden, to forage and store my own food is because I don't like where we as a country and as a planet are going. No, this isn't a political blog, my concerns are more food availability and environmentally based then they are political.
If the pandemic showed us anything, it's that the supply chain can be interrupted and supplies can become diminished rather quickly. Plus when costs raise, a common reaction is to save money where and how you can. In this case, I'm in the perfect place to do that through gardening, canning and other means.
A little self sufficiency never hurts.
Generally speaking the average garden will run roughly $70 to start for things like seeds, fertilizer, tools, fencing, etc and bring a return of roughly $600 in food production. No wonder roughly one out of every four people in the US grows some sort of food at home. I never realized that many people gardened.
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| We considered releasing the cat on them |
It will probably run us a little more because I know that we will need some deer fencing. We have had as many as a dozen within 25 feet of the back porch, and they have eaten from my bird feeders.
Sue and myself plan on keeping it simple. We want to plant tomato's, onions, potato's, zucchini, some herbs and maybe salad greens. Since there is only the two of us planting anything more than one or two plants is getting to ambitious (so no Lovage this year)! One tomato plant for example can yield up to 20 pounds in tomato's. More than enough for two people.
Last year the season got away from us as a variety of issues kept us from starting a garden. This year, we are getting it done come hell or high water. Our garden will be mostly containers, and with the exception of two dogwoods and some native flowers, that is all I'm planting this year. We have done small gardens in the past, this should be easy right?
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| Something like this be perfect |
Again doing some research it appears that the average small garden for two people only requires about five hours of work per week. Something that we can certainly squeeze into our busy lives. I think that was the problem last year, poor planning and wanting to do to much....and before you knew it the growing season was over.
I still don't feel prepared for the coming year. It's nearly April as I write this and I don't have seeds. I have no compost or mulch. Despite knowing that I should have started this long before this.
I have to ask for help. I can't relay on myself and the internet all the time. I need to get off my ass.
It's not that I can't do better, I've surprised myself in the fact that I've already eating a bit healthier and have lost weight. I did this by sticking to a plan, and having a passion for experimentation. Maybe I have to look at planting a garden as less work or something that I have to do...and more of an experiment?
Is that the secret of success for me?
In some long term nebulous future I would love to have native edible plants growing throughout the yard and a small contained garden. Something that will provide food for people long after I'm gone. A legacy.
That's the way to look at it.
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