A Garden Goal

[BeccaBoo]

I wanted to share an ambitious plan I have with you all, in the hopes that if anyone has any suggestions or input to give me I can apply them to the project and see what happens.
As a new gardener I find that I'm always justifying the time and money put into my self-sufficient home not only to myself but also people around me. While I don't feel the need to explain myself to everyone, little comments like this can't help but get under my skin. So I've been trying to find tangible examples of how my hard work is paying off.

This year I've decided to see if I can't produce $1,000 US from my garden and various other projects. I know, it sounds ambitious, but I'm also hoping to smash that goal. Why? First, it's for fun and just out of curiosity. Second, because I want to show that my garden does help me save money, along with all its other advantages!

What I'm counting:

• All fresh produce and herbs
• Preserved foods, such as canned, fermented, and frozen
• Dried herbs for seasoning and medicinal teas
• Maple syrup (season is over now, but I've counted what I produced)
• Salves
• Compost I make (that stuff gets expensive if you don't cook it up yourself!)

I'm only looking for a sum of what I produce, not a profit. I put a lot of money into my garden this year, and I don't want to discourage myself by seeing my profit eaten up by the initial investment. (I know, it might not seem like much, but I am sometimes easily discouraged.) And I'm also going with just rough estimates, not measuring everything down to the exact gram if I don't want or need to.

Does anyone have suggestions or ideas of what else I can add to this list? This is still just for fun, so I'm not trying to be too precise or business oriented. This is mostly an experiment and a little challenge I'm setting myself up for. But I'm sure I've missed something, nevertheless!

Thanks all, and happy growing!

 

[Lunai]

Hi becca

I know what you mean. If anyone makes a comment at the moment to me i tell them to come back to me when the season has started and my tomatoes are producing to see who has now the A) better tasting B) healthier ones (because of pesticides etc.) and C) cheaper ones.... Tomatoes have high kg prizes up to 28€/kg at the moment where it was 6€/kg the last years and even that was higher than the years before...

So I think as high as your number sounds... counted over the year it should actually be a very reasonable and reachable goal

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

You know what. I think you could reach it. I initially I was going to say that it was very ambitious, but then I saw you are counting just produce and it is not about profit. Beginning a garden is where the bulk of costs come from. One has to buy pots, raised beds, plants, seeds, tools, hoses... everything. But then if you think about how long those items last, you really just made a long-term investment. A raised bed of $200, may really look like a big expense, but if you take that it likely lasts 10 years or more, it's really only $20 a year, $1.67 a month. Just one tomato plant could pay that off easily. But you can fit multiple plants in there, so really there is huge profit. Also considering you don't need to spend money on fuel as you don't need to drive to the store for said produce.
So what you are doing is making investments for the long run. One big spend can cover many years of profit. Seeds are fairly cheap, especially once you learn to save seeds. And there are many plants out there that can last for years! My chives are still thriving just as much as the day I bought them, along with other herbs.
So in saying this, if you worry about seeing your profit eaten up, see it as it is. The yearly cost for that bed were give or take $20, plus soil (throwing random numbers) $20, fertiliser $40, seeds/plants $40. That might come to around $120. But if you then fill that bed with plants which then in turn could produce $300 or more, you see a $180 profit.
Of course these are random numbers. I haven't ever really tracked cost and profit myself. But I do know I use the same bags of fertiliser for a long time, and they pay themselves off by far. I still have the same $30 bottle of Eco-Neem oil that I bought 2 years ago and there is still plenty in it for another year or two.

And the more knowledge you gain, the more profitable your garden can become. You will learn what they need, so less plants will die, you know when to plant them to get the most out of the growing seasons, and you can learn how to make cuttings, save seeds and more. It really becomes this beautiful cycle. Especially when you start composting garden scraps so that even those don't go to waste.
Not to forget about preserving, which ensures you have produce year-round.

Depending on your preferences and where you live you could get chickens, which can help in consuming scraps and in turn produce eggs, fertiliser and even meat. Your garden could cover a lot of the feeding costs, and with eggs the price they are... yeah I think you get it.

And for expanded profits, you could set up a street-side stall. We have multiple in my surrounding areas. Because chances are, you might produce more than you consume in the long run. Especially as your garden might grow and expand.

 

[BeccaBoo]

Thank you both very much! I feel encouraged and you've given me a lot to think about.

I typically underestimate how much I can make on my own and get too focused on what I've put into the garden already. Yes, it was a lot, but like you said it's mostly a one time investment. I certainly won't need to build raised beds again for a while, or purchase bulk soil again. And most, if not all, of the tools I'm buying will last years and years! So next year I'll probably just need to top off beds, buy more seeds/plants, and organic fertilizer... Of course every year I'll probably want to add more to the property, but that just increases the output for later years. Not only that, but I never stopped to think my quality of my produce, since it's going to be organic. That bumps the price up quite a bit when I compare it to local stores.

While we don't have chickens now (still so much to learn about them, and we live in a high bear area...) we do know people who keep chickens and we have bartered/traded with them in the past for eggs. So the upside is that my produce and preserved foods are also currency!

Everything has become so expensive here, and you're paying a premium price for food that doesn't even have flavor, and who knows how healthy it is. So if it's more delicious and healthier, then it's really priceless. But, it's still fun to see how much money I can "make" through all of my efforts. As of today, I've already made about $100 and it's not even growing season yet.

Sorry for rambling, I've been known to go on and on when I'm excited... haha!

 

[Lunai]

no worries Becca, same here... can't stopp babbling when I get exited over something
I think the real issue is exactly what you mentioned: Most people forget how much better your homegrown stuff is compared to the foodstore (taste, nutrients, texture, lack of herbizides, lack of pestizides etc) and they also forget how much you would have to pay for that quality at a foodstore.
I find tomatoes to be one of the strongest examples. They are so easy to grow, yet it makes such a huge difference if they're homegrown ore storebought. You really can tell the difference.

And that's Marks Motto I believe: You don't have to be selfsufficient in everything, just something. Because with that starts a cycle of people trading together. One gives what he produces most and best and gets from someone else what he needs most, because they produce most and best... that's the wy it was for centuries. It always worked and it will always work. Let's just stick together and ceep the industry out

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Yeah exactly! Things can last for ages!
I'm a container gardener myself and at the end of the season I love mixing my old pots into a larger new pot, mixed with some new fertiliser. It's right up and ready to go for another season. Of course, this is something I'm able to do as I keep buying larger and more pots, hehe. I just love it. I've even got a couple indoor plants now and they simply exist to make the place more homey and to make me happy. One can't put a pricetag on happy.

Ramble away! I love seeing people excited - it excites me too!