But you don't know what your getting, besides theres that certain satisfaction from doing it yourself.
I am quite sure I could buy spaghetti sauce cheaper than than I can grow the ingredients and make it. I'm sure I could buy veggis cheaper than Mar can can them.
But mine are so much better.
An acquaintance of mine was always on me about the amount of time I spend getting the garden ready and planting. Till him and his family where over for supper one evening. His wife remarked how good the carrots and the beans where. His uppity remark was, well they should be they just came out of the garden. My wife pointed out to him that it was canned stuff from the year before
Guess who is putting in a garden this year
Besides Travis, its not like you have anything else to do
I get potato seed from
Ronniger Potato farm He has some great varieties. Try some of
Rose Finn Apple Man them things are good.
I left out
High Mowing seeds from seed list.
Back in the 70's and 80's, chicken farming was all the rage here in Waldo County. Because of the cost of fuel to heat the buildings,that has been shipped south, but to this day I seldom eat chicken. My Dad worked at a the local chicken feed plant. His job, and I am not making this up, was to put in a scoop or two of arsenic in every batch of chicken feed.
Why on earth would they put arsenic in chicken feed?
Because it made the chickens thirsty, and thirsty chickens drank more water which made them fatten up quicker. That was the only reason. Of course I also know that cattle, and pork do the same thing, but somehow chicken never was something I liked.
As for my own garden, oh I have been tempted. I grew up with gardens, but now its just a time thing. I have nothing against anyone that has gardens whatsoever, but I just can't justify the time and money on one when food from the grocery store is so cheap and plentiful.
I will say though, all my daughter eats for food is organic stuff. They just gave Maine a superior rating for having access to organic food. Our grocery stores are just filled with the stuff, which is good.Its more expensive then grocery store food, so the wife and I opt out of it, but Alyson gets the good stuff. Well except for organic milk. We don't give her that.
We buy Oakhurst Milk out of Portland Maine. They do not allow their farmers to use artificial growth hormones in their milk. The other milk companies got so mad, that they went to the USDA and now they have to put on every bottle of milk "the addition of Artificial Growth Hormones do not adversely effect your health." This kind of makes me mad because its such fooliness. Of course it does, if it changes the dynamics of the cows, then it will drinking the milk!!
Another reason I buy Oakhurst is I know first hand they have high standards. They pay better then other milk companies but when they came to our dairy farm they shook their heads no. Our bacteria count is above USDA standards, but below theirs. They won't take our milk, or like the way our barn is messy. As I said, they have high standards, so I buy their milk. My wife gets mad because their milk is 10 cents higher then the other brands. A dime per gallon, big deal huh?