On Oct 1, 1:32�pm, Julia Altshuler > wrote:
> Mikie wrote:
> > In the Vegetable Gardening venue, there was a post where the writer
> > felt there was no monetary gain in growing your own veggies.
>
> > Well! �If you grow a chemical garden, you're probably right! �But the
> > gain from an organic garden cannot be measured in dollars! �Think!
>
> Did the discussion take into acount:
>
> Saved money from not needing a gym membership? �Gardening is great exercise.
>
> Saved money from not needing vacations to the country or beach?
> Gardening is enjoyable and will give you a tan.
>
> Saved money from not needing psychotherapy or Prozac? �Gardening is
> relaxing, meditative, enjoyable, soothing, philosophical, fun.
>
> If you're someone who hates every minute of it, then I agree. �Better to
> get produce from the supermarket or farmer's market. �The cost in
> dollars and aggravation isn't worth it. �If you think it is fun, then
> there's no better reward right there.
>
> --Lia

Those are the reasons I garden, especially because for me it's fun and
enjoyable. I don't really think about the economic aspect unless
someone brings it up, but I know from years of experience, that just
like any other hobby there is no monetary advantage. I also collect
fountain pens, many of which cost hundreds, even thousands of
dollars... I can just as easily write with a 19 cent BIC... but there
is a certain intangible enjoyment in hobbies that can't be equated in
dollars and cents. Once there's a profit it's no longer a hobby, then
it's a business... I'm into gardening, not farming... if it was
constantly on my mind to turn a profit I wouldn't enjoy it and I'd not
do it. Most of what my garden produces I give away. Today I gave
away two large butternut squash and two large cabbages, make that
three cabbages, gave two to my neighbor and one to my tenant. I still
have four more large cabbages in the garden and more squash... I
picked some for me too but I can't fit any more in my fridge. It
would have been immeasurably less costly to simply buy a few cabbage
and squash for like under $20... growing my own two cabbage and two
squash cost like $200, probably more. But even knowing this I don't
mind... I'm sure plenty of yoose spend $200 on a seat at a ball game,
I never have... I think yoose are just as nutz paying to see grown
adult juvenile delinquents bat a ball around like so many retards as
you think I am playing Jolly Green Giant with my patch of dirt