On Fri, 27 Jul 2012 17:38:01 -0500, Melba's Jammin'
> wrote:



>>
>> It's actually far less costly to buy bulk quantities directly from the
>> farmers and orchardmen... for preserves bushel baskets of drops at
>> like $6 are much less expensive than growing ones own. Home gardening
>> is strictly a hobby, there is no monetary savings whatsoever... it's
>> far cheaper to buy ones vine ripened tomatoes from the local farm
>> stands (NOT farmer's markets).
>
>There may be no monetary savings, Sheldon, and I also would not
>necessarily relegate the exercise to 'hobby' status. In my case, yup,
>it's mostly hobby ‹ something I enjoy doing for personal satisfaction.
>There are lots of people who do home canning because the stuff usually
>tastes better than commercially canned. There are others who stumble
>into it because they don't have freezer space and have to do *something*
>with the glut of tomatoes they face. Different strokes for different
>folks. The bottom line for value received is not always about dollars
>and cents. :-P


Some stuff is best purchase from the farm stand, but tomatoes are not.
With a $1 plant, I can get 10 pounds or more of tomatoes. The
cheapest I've seen them is $2 a pound and often they are $4 a pound. A
couple of plants are a good investment.