Maggie's Farm

My mother made us weed the garden on our farm when I was a kid and I vowed I would NEVER have a garden. It was my idea of hell.

But I Corinthians 13:11 reminds us that we change as we grow up...

Home grown vegetables are fresher and more nutritious. You can also grow the tasty varieties YOU like, not the bland or bitter ones your supermarket stocks because they ship well. Or the extortionately priced ones at some "healthy" store. It saves a certain amount of money to grow vegetables if you are careful, but the main advantage is that if you grow them, you eat more of them.

Also, if you choose them wisely and plant artistically they can be as pretty as flowers. I plant them amongst roses, and perennials anyway, as well as in dedicated raised beds. Red cabbages are beautiful as is rainbow Swiss chard, and the squash blossoms are a sight (as well as a delicacy) The only really ugly things are the potatoes and onions but my family prefer the taste of the homegrown ones so we have those in odd corners and with flowers growing in front of them. Jerusalem artichokes grow like the weeds they are in swampy spots of the garden and they are ablaze with golden flowers when precious little else is flowering at the end of the summer.

Corn is pointless in our neighbourhood because raccoons strip it all. We have no problems with deer, tho, because of a ferocious dog, and sporadic applications by yours truly of red pepper, diluted milk/egg/garlic sprays (that they hate the smell of).

I like being able to go out and pick whatever veggies look best and then figure out dinner based on what I have picked. One day a huge Greek salad, another green beans with garlic and lemon juice and olive oil and some new potatoes and dill. The meat is a sop to my family... My family will eat vegetables from the garden FAR more willingly than the supermarket ones. In addition, the periodic gluts of certain things inspire you, because when you have gone to so much trouble growing them, you don't want to waste them. I learned how to make refrigerator pickles when overwhelmed by cucumbers. And how to make saeurkraut when ALL the cabbages split after a thunderstorm.

Like comment # 5, we have enough green and yellow beans from a fairly small row for frozen beans all thru the winter into the next fresh bean season. We also grow shelling beans of a few exotic varieties tho these are space hogs by comparison since you have to let them dry instead of picking and picking repeatedly. The advantage is that they are FAR tastier and far more digestible than dried beans of God knows what age that you buy from the store. Cook faster too. We also love winter squash and pumpkins because they keep til the next April or May with zero work preserving them. Tho the pumpkins are susceptible to evil borers some years.

I can't imagine cooking without fresh scallions, rosemary, fresh dill, fresh basil, parsley, tarragon, oregano, etc etc. We dry a huge quantity in October, and bring the pot of rosemary inside for rosemary all winter. We harvest the basil and make enough pesto to last til spring.

I make all kinds of things from my garden that delight my family thru the dark days of winter, and that I can give as gifts, so it may take a lot of time, but it's worth it. Amongst them: pesto, sauerkraut, pickles, apple pie filling, apple butter, applesauce, (we have four apple trees), blueberry jam. Then for home use we make dried apples, sun dried tomatoes, dried herbs, tomato sauce. We keep potatoes, onions, apples, cabbages, and winter squash in a cool place thru the winter. We eat leeks, kale, collards, arugala, brussels sprouts from the garden until January at times, and I just dug out some carrots and parsnips yesterday that were still great from last summer. Did I mention real pies. Rhubarb, apple, blueberry....Not sicky sweet bland mush from store bought fruit...

Here's the thing: I HATE going to the grocery store. Growing some of my own food helps me avoid store trips. I come home exhausted from work, and it is easy to take some meat out of the freezer for my carnivore family while I go prowl around the garden and relax looking for the rest of the meal. In theory, I don't have to go to the store except for milk, butter, cheese and eggs, so long as I have a garden, as meat can be frozen. So why not grow your own?

More than you wanted to hear, I know.

But it's not work, it's fun. Who wouldn't rather be outside in your spare time than cooped up indoors??? At least if you have to work all day indoors....Also, self sufficiency is a good thing. Soon enough, when I am retired and broke, I will be glad I am good at producing at least some of my own food.