I was going to dig up my pissy little camera and put the Kindle HD in the pocket and see about taking a few photos today - but the morning sun is banging down into the downstairs solarium (how posh - not only do I have a solarium we use as an office - but a DOWNSTAIRS one... Yes there is an upstairs one over top :P ), and I still have some morning wrangling to do with the rugrats before my morning clears enough to spend some time outside. I thought in the meanwhile I'd touch on something simple I think everyone should do when setting up their garden projects: work out what you hope to get out of it. It could be some far reaching goal (like me) or just get some enjoyment out of watching something grow. Maybe you want your own fresh veg on the table, and are too far from a farmers market - or just to see if you can. The point is our goals will probably be different, and what may be necessary for me, might not be for you.
So, what it's all about for me:
I not only want to eventually produce 100% of the family veg, but expand the range of what we eat on a regular basis. I was raised on 'Meat and 3 veg', and whenever I've returned to this touchstone my general health and well being has been much improved.
Improved quality of food. I could wax nostalgic about everything from my youth and how it's all changed, but I'll leave that for another post - I'll leave it at: buy a tomato, take a bite - pick a tomato, take a bite. If these things taste the same to you, nothing I say will make any difference on the subject - and I'll wager you also like your steak well done.
The food I produce must have a lower cost to produce than it's store counterparts. It must be cost effective for me to do this or what's the point? This includes things like dirt - fertilizer - seeds. I'll write off my time and sweat as $0.00 because I file that under 'enjoyment' - I have to keep things honest anyways. If I quantified the stress relief, the health benefits from being out in the sun, the fitness benefits from the odd workout - it would outweigh the per hour labor cost I put in.
The garden must pay it's own way. What money I put in, must come back out in value - not quite the same as the previous point. I have a lot of things I need to get done, a lot of family and home expenses. Every dollar I spend I need to account for - I need to justify why I spent it. If I can't - I won't. How to measure this? My own method is to take what I harvest and apply the current dollar value to it if I bought it down the road at Kroger/Smiths/Walmart etc. Luckily for me things like fresh herbs are priced insanely. I'll throw out there that the simplest, most cost effective thing you can to start on something like this is to grow fresh herbs. It's easy and extremely cost effective.
It must be easy to maintain. I'm busy, I don't have time every single day to spend an hour or two in the garden weeding, planting, digging, watering - sometimes it will have to fend for itself.
Keep a small footprint. I have what I consider to be an average backyard space for where I live. It's fairly generous, but it's for the whole family - not just for me. Apart from previously beds (which I'm reworking and repurposing) I have an amount of space probably smaller than 1/4 of the total usable area of the yard.
Sustainability and a low environmental impact: I have to be able to do this over and over and over in a manner that's safe and had has a low impact on the yard. This is a no brainer. I have kids that are going to grow up here - I can't have huge piles of crap, toxic chemicals or runoff - As it is now I have a daughter who is fascinated with digging and pulling leaves and a son that shoves everything in his mouth as his 'go to' method of working out his interest. It has to be safe.
Hopefully as I get around to the actual setup things will click as to why I go about things in certain ways - however where I am at the moment is only a baby step to where I eventually want to be - the current setup doesn't give the vision justice and it's going to be a very long journey.
Your goals are going to be different - so don't read anything I do and think 'oh I must do it this way' because that's the kind of BS I'm trying to get away from (and why I'm writing this in the first place) - if anything I'd be pleased if somewhere along the way you get some snippet you find useful, some idea you find cool and helpful, or some suggestion that helps me along the way to where I want to go.
There isn't any 'one best way' - only the way that gets you to where you want to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment