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Having spent decades in urban environments trying to get windowsill gardens, and porch gardens, and hydroponic gardens, and container gardens, and back patch gardens to grow, sheerly for the joy and freshness and the flavor of the homegrown tastes, I can speak eloquently for hours about the virtues of $60 tomatoes.
For the average American, working 8+ hours a day, and commuting at least a couple more, what with picking up the kids, picking up the dry cleaning, picking up groceries, cooking dinner, etc., the idea of fitting in another layer of work for subsistence farming is not a viable option. I know... I've tried to do it.
Now I'm semi-retired in a location where I can just throw some seeds in the ground, or maybe just at the ground, and then I need to stand back so that I don't get hit by the spreading foliage. And it all gets watered automatically by the sky, and fed by the sun, and my worst worries are the feral chickens that want to eat everything in sight plus the bugs and mold and snails that are inescapable in a tropical climate. But frankly, I don't ever expect to be fully self-subsistent, because I have other interests besides gardening, and because I don't generally work that cheap.
I mean seriously, in the film two adults are working full-time, plus another three working at least part time, for a total yield of $20,000 per year, plus all they can eat? And that high level took 10 years to build up to. I can celebrate their accomplishment, but I don't feel any need to emulate it.
In my neck of the woods there is a big, famous farmers market that visitors flock to, which offers a lot of food that is gorgeous, if overpriced, and largely imported. Then there are much smaller local farmers markets which offer locally grown food to local residents at prices between what they receive from wholesale buyers and what supermarkets sell them for. Those are the ones to seek out, and to shop at, whether paying with SNAP benefits or with cash.
I watched the video and I admire these folks. I don't have the inclination to try to reproduce similar results, but kudos to them. It's a lifestyle they obviously enjoy and more power to them for it. They're also blessed with almost year-round growing conditions in Pasadena -- depending on crop selection, of course, and a bit of luck regarding plant & animal diseases -- that most of us don't have. However, as a suburbanite, I do try my best to grow a few edibles every year, as much for the connection to the land as it is for flavor and money savings.
Having spent decades in urban environments trying to get windowsill gardens, and porch gardens, and hydroponic gardens, and container gardens, and back patch gardens to grow, sheerly for the joy and freshness and the flavor of the homegrown tastes, I can speak eloquently for hours about the virtues of $60 tomatoes.
For the average American, working 8+ hours a day, and commuting at least a couple more, what with picking up the kids, picking up the dry cleaning, picking up groceries, cooking dinner, etc., the idea of fitting in another layer of work for subsistence farming is not a viable option. I know... I've tried to do it.
Now I'm semi-retired in a location where I can just throw some seeds in the ground, or maybe just at the ground, and then I need to stand back so that I don't get hit by the spreading foliage. And it all gets watered automatically by the sky, and fed by the sun, and my worst worries are the feral chickens that want to eat everything in sight plus the bugs and mold and snails that are inescapable in a tropical climate. But frankly, I don't ever expect to be fully self-subsistent, because I have other interests besides gardening, and because I don't generally work that cheap.
I mean seriously, in the film two adults are working full-time, plus another three working at least part time, for a total yield of $20,000 per year, plus all they can eat? And that high level took 10 years to build up to. I can celebrate their accomplishment, but I don't feel any need to emulate it.
In my neck of the woods there is a big, famous farmers market that visitors flock to, which offers a lot of food that is gorgeous, if overpriced, and largely imported. Then there are much smaller local farmers markets which offer locally grown food to local residents at prices between what they receive from wholesale buyers and what supermarkets sell them for. Those are the ones to seek out, and to shop at, whether paying with SNAP benefits or with cash.
Having spent decades in urban environments trying to get windowsill gardens, and porch gardens, and hydroponic gardens, and container gardens, and back patch gardens to grow, sheerly for the joy and freshness and the flavor of the homegrown tastes, I can speak eloquently for hours about the virtues of $60 tomatoes.
For the average American, working 8+ hours a day, and commuting at least a couple more, what with picking up the kids, picking up the dry cleaning, picking up groceries, cooking dinner, etc., the idea of fitting in another layer of work for subsistence farming is not a viable option. I know... I've tried to do it.
In my experience, for the first few years, a garden is more expensive than going to the store. Even now, I grow veggies more for the taste than the economy. We laugh about our first $40. tomato. Some folks have good soil, naturally, but we do not.
In my experience, for the first few years, a garden is more expensive than going to the store. Even now, I grow veggies more for the taste than the economy. We laugh about our first $40. tomato. Some folks have good soil, naturally, but we do not.
You can do a raised bed garden and use a soilless mix to grow your veggies.
That's puttering around in a flower bed, not farming. Growing large quantities of food is not a hobby where you can dither around for a few hours here and there if you feel like it. It's not cheap either.
Oh, thanks for telling me what they're doing. I'll have to tell them to stop supplying me with vegetables (and here you are telling me I've been eating flowers?) for six months of the year. Apparently they don't know they're "puttering around in a flower bed."
My roommates parents had live stock on their property in a suburban setting. They grew 300 lbs hogs for pork. They sat down and did the math. Even after you paid the Butcher to take care of the hog and smoke and cure the bacon and paid for all of the food for the hog, it only came out to about .85 -$1 per pound for the best pork and bacon you've had in your life. Maybe poor people really could get red much better and for much cheaper if local Governments were more active in this type of thing.
The county I lived in for 30 years has organizations, schools, churches and individuals that came together to plant 8 garden sites covering 7500 sq. ft., using 75 raised beds and gardens. This group raised 10,180 pounds of vegetables, benefiting over 360 individuals last year and they have more gardens planned this year. This earned the group the title of 2013 Community of the Year in this development district. The entire population of this county is around 20,000. Can you imagine what could be raised if larger cities and civic organizations would do something like this?
i think starting today, everyone should either grow their own food, ,,,or just eat strictly organic,, and then feel good about it..
we should close down all the grocery stores except for whole foods.
outlaw all gmo foods and only eat foods raised and grazed within 50 miles where you live,,,so it is "local"
the gmos are killing us, the growth hormones are making kids freaks, the big ag, factory farms are cruel and the meat will kill you..
let's all take this pledge once and for all and feel good about ourselves
lets lobby to shut down all the fast food restaurants, that are unhealthy, that use gmo foods and factory farming meats...
and anyone who objects,,they just dont know whats good for them... hey, we did it with cigarettes,,anyone who smokes now is a social leper,,,we can do the same with food..
and so what if millions lose their jobs,,we are doing this for the "greater good" we just need more government involvement ...
we will have a one payer health insurance, why not a one source organic foodsource producer?? for those that cant grow for themselves
with no competition, tomatoes will be 8.99lb,,,but so what?? they are better for you, even if you dont realize it.. just like the mandatory healthcare
Oh, thanks for telling me what they're doing. I'll have to tell them to stop supplying me with vegetables (and here you are telling me I've been eating flowers?) for six months of the year. Apparently they don't know they're "puttering around in a flower bed."
I come from a family of farmers, people who actually grow food in the quantities like in the video. The time they spend is not "irrelevant," as you say. As at least one person in this thread has pointed out, the project in the video took five people to accomplish, two of them full time. Your post about spending a couple hours here and there because gardening is relaxing and entertaining family fun is not in the same ballpark at all.
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