Stewing about Self Worth
My culture these days is food. Most of my day is spent with food in some form. Livestock food, people food, and plant food. What to plant when? Plant or let a natural food/feed grow? Who plants what? What to plant when? Who harvests what and when? Cooked or raw. Cured and stored or harvested on the spot? Putting up winter feed for stock and winter food for us. It’s a full-time job, that food.
But it’s not a full-time job many want or give much credence to. Although farming is the new black, growing your own food still takes a back seat to growing a product and selling it and buying your food from someone else. Specialization is the accepted rule of order. You get good at whatever, and sell your product or time and then you go buy your food from someone else. Being the SAHG (Stay at Home Gardener) is something of an anomaly.
Every once in a while, when I do go to the store, I peruse the produce aisle and meat counter just to justify my job at home as the farmer/gardener/cook.
I am usually shocked and I realize we eat like kings. Except the fact that I doubt that kings toil over reducing tomatoes into sauce and canning it for winter.
Or shucking corn to prolong summer just a little bit longer.
We eat beef stew a couple of times a week in the cooler weather. I thought of beef stew as being a frugal meal. I thought wrong. Usually I use a pound of stew meat, a quart or so of broth, a pint of seasoned canned tomatoes, and this time of year when the roots are plentiful I usually include onion, garlic, celery root, carrots, potatoes, rutabaga, parsnips, maybe corn or green beans. Basically a catch-all type of stew pot. This lasts the three of us for two dinners, and maybe a bowl or two for lunch.
Just to get started not counting spices etc, this is what it would cost me for my pot of stew. I priced these items at the natural food store here in Portland, which is close to the quality I grow without going to the farmers market. Of course, local here means some produce may come from California 
Beef Stew meat, natural. $5.99 lb.
potatoes, organic 2.49 lb.
celeriac, organic 2.99 lb.
rutabagas, organic 2.49 lb.
parsnips, organic 2.49 lb
carrots, organic .78 lb (on sale, fresh to us here in Oregon all the way from California!) (yuck, I mean yum)
roasted canned tomatoes 1.95
chicken broth, 1 quart 2.99
Total $22.17
I didn’t price onions and garlic, but you get the idea. If you’re thinking growing your own organic produce is too expensive or not worth your time, think again. Beef stew is not a gourmet meal. You could go to the warehouse grocery store, or the outlet store for close-out stuff to lower the cost. But, in this exercise of valuing my work, I think I need to price comparably to what I think my vegetables, meat and time are worth.
I know not everyone has the space, time or skill set to grow their own and there are real reasons for supporting small farms through CSA’s, farmstands and markets. But, if you are willing to put in the effort to build good soil, and grow good vegetables or your own meat, don’t let anyone hold you back with snooty remarks. The rewards are real and more important than you know.
Food Renegade
Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op
Well said! I think it’s true that we undervalue our homegrown meals.
Darius, it’s an uphill battle, homekeeping has fallen from favor but I think (hope) the tide is turning.
I envy your life style and the work that you do! In my heart-of-hearts, I know that this is the type of life I was meant to live, but here I am in the city! I really enjoy reading your posts…thank you so much! I’ve passed a link on to my 31 year old daughter who cans and pickles more than I ever did and who has made her first effort this past summer to do gardening by the square foot. You can look at my wee efforts on my blog. Enjoy stewing! I will be thinking of you!
Painter Lady, thanks so much for stopping by. We all do what we can, and who knows, maybe in the next go round you will be a country girl
You hear from a lot of gardeners that growing your own food isn’t always cheaper than buying from the shop. I think that’s such rubbish…as long as you don’t go overboard with buying seeds and equipment you don’t need. For example the amount you would spend on a packet of carrot seeds can only buy about a pound of full grown. Or just look at how expensive the organic potatoes are – for you it’s $2.49/lb and here they’re £1.85 ($2.87)/lb.
That’s how much I might pay for seed potatoes which will then give me 10+ pounds in return!
Tanya, so true, and besides the money, the work is meaningful too. Seeds are cheap when you think of what the potential harvest may be. Oh my gosh, my larder is filled with good memories, and good food!
As always your posts hit home, and your photos are stunning!
I had a great year as a stay at home gardener, and I consider myself so very lucky to be able to do so, eating like kings is right!
Down with Snooty Remarks and Three Cheers to good food, and to working, living on and loving our farms!
JADOTHF, Hear! Hear!
Snooty people are the same ones who don’t kill chickens because you can buy them in the store.
I hope I am up to the challenge when we retire.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
LindaG, or the ones who think their time playing at leisurely activities is more important than spending that time growing food.
I think you’ll do great!!
In 2010 I weighed/valuedeverything my garden produced. I priced things, as you did, by comparing them to similar value-foods using the Organic price reports or the farmer’s market. I thought I had a good idea of the cost of good veggies, but I was AMAZED at the value of my garden. Even a small garden in a shorter growing season can make a significant impact on the family grocery bill. And it’s just better, all around.
Ali, so true, and the journey is worth something too, giving our minds and bodies an excuse to leave the busy world we live in these days. I am convinced any gardening effort is worth it because like you say, the food is so much better.
Exactly. I don’t see the sense of buying chemically processed food from halfway across the world when I can grow even better food in my back yard. I wish that was seen as a “job” not a “hobby”, but in our culture people think that only full time farmers who sell their produce are really doing something worthwhile.
Jessica, I couldn’t agree more, hopefully the pendulum is swinging back and gardening and small scale farming will become the norm or at least not such a niche.
I so long for the day that my backyard is ready for me to grow at least some of the food we eat. It’s taking time, but then something worth having is always work waiting (working) for.
Claudia, I agree, and you’ll get there, it just takes time.
Even if you buy all your ingredients eight meals for $22.17 come to under $3 a meal witch is pretty cheap.
okay it’s always worth waiting for…and I ordered seed catalogs today! My first step towards more sustainability! It’s just too bad I can’t spell!
We have a little spot in our backyard for growing veggies. We have been improving the soil over the past 5 years and we have been able to produce some great veggies. We usually get at least 4 if not 6 batches of green beans and have zukes coming out of our ears. We try to grow veggies that freeze well. Have a Great Holiday:)
Pretty darn valuable you are. Don’t forget to add in the income from the beef you care for so well… those cows look great.
Funny how the more I live like you, the less I want anything at all from the store. I’m just as happy to do without. When you have great ingredients, you don’t need much else.
I would need a fairly well paying job to be able to afford to eat as we do. I’m sure I could not find a job I’d like as much either. Selling stuff off the farm at market value can be difficult for a number of reasons, but working a small income through the farm again for our own gain makes it worth a lot for us.
Re: “we eat like kings”…
I have made the same statement to my wife as well, and it’s true! Eating veggies that are still warm from the sun that was making them grow isn’t something a lot of people can do anymore and it feels absolutely luxurious.
I love this kind of math. Some folks would think $22 for 6 portions of stew is a bargain if they eat out or buy prepared foods – or from the whole foods store. I’m with you. Producing the stuff makes nothing but sense for so many reasons it’s hard to articulate them all.
you are so right, we do eat like kings. And the bonus is we work for our food so we get a free workout as well.
I havent gone and priced all the food we have. I have home grown pork, beef and lamb so I havent had to buy meat for a while. Maybe I should go and see just how much its all gone up.
FANTASTIC POST!!!! We pay dearly for our food be it with money, our health, or sweat and toil. I’ll take the toil any day to provide quality organic food grown on my land. If I can’t grow it, I buy it from a local farmer that I can shake hands with. That’s the golden rule for me. I need to KNOW my producers not know OF them. For the first year ever, all of the food that we didn’t produce ourselves this past year (save a few odds and sods from the store) has come from an intimate radius of farmers. So satisfying to fill my family’s plates with food that I know so well and have worked so hard to either grow or source. There is tremendous satisfaction is sourcing my food from LOCAL ethical, organic, sustainable growers. The quality of food available at the store is abysmal, and the cost is sky high. I posted a few months back about how much of ME was in each bite of food we ate – but I’d rather that than any other way. Growing/procuring GOOD food is indeed a full time job around these parts!
I just posted a short blog (before I read yours, honest). I think you’d enjoy it! We’re just starting out — thanks for the validation! It’s surely worth it. Anyhow, here’s my synchronous post link http://barkingmadfarms.com/?p=15
Happy cooking/growing/processing!!!
Samara
This was precisely why we started raising as much of our own food as we could. The second reason was we knew exactly where it came from, what went into it, and how it was processed. (We do all our own butchering.)
Less important, we buy what we can’t raise locally if possible.
Excellent post for Thanksgiving. Hope yours is grand!
You are an inspiration and an encouragement! i don’t know if you can quantify the true costs of buying/raising your own food. A basic cost comparison is a start, especially for those who just don’t think about it. The bigger picture would include the environment, home grown vegetables don’t spend hours being trucked anywhere, even locally grown, organic produce ( which is definately better than vegetables flown and trucked in from foreign countries!).
The biggest thing for me is the taste. There is absolutely no comparison to food you raise. A peach from the store compared to a peach ripened on a tree in your backyard. Eggs, milk, meat, carrots etc etc. Tomatoes. There is just no comparison to the flavor, no amount of money can buy. The nutrition factor, no comparison there!
It is kind of like people who look (ed) down on Moms who chose to breast feed. What better way to nourish our babies then the way God intended. The scientists and Drs. don’t even know all the components in breast milk and sure can’t duplicate it! Why on earth would anyone choose to buy formula if they are able to breast feed their baby.
Not everyone can grow or produce their own food but those who can and do should be admired.