Quote of the Day: Gene Logsdon
“We have become a nation dangerously dependent on politically motivated and money-motivated processes for our food, clothing, and shelter. In the world we must live in from now on, to produce our own food is the beginning of independence. To accept that responsibility is the first step toward real freedom.”
Gene Logsdon (Small-Scale Grain Raising)
Gardening comes easy to me, there’s nothing I love more than spending days in the garden. I love the hard work, I love the intricacies of it, it’s really rewarding for me.
Tending animals is also very rewarding, at least most of the time. I love the chickens, ducks, and guineas. They are fun to have around, most of the time. Though they can be frustrating at times.
There are parts of producing your own food that aren’t easy, slaughtering animals is the hardest. It is time for us to slaughter eight of our male ducks. They are getting to the point where they are becoming aggressive towards the lady ducks and there are simply too many of them. I sold a few of them, the rest will go to freezer camp.
One of the reasons I encourage people to take a first hand role in producing at least some of their food is because it gives you an appreciation for those that do it full-time. It also gives us a deep sense of appreciate for our food and for what it takes to have something on our plate at each meal.
What part of producing your own food do you find to be the easiest and which is the most difficult?
Sitting around the fire in January, reading the seed catalogs and planning my garden for the year is the easiest task. I always have grand plans for expanding my farm but the reality of the task kicks me in the butt come May.
As far as dislikes, for me to it would be butchering. I like raising our own meat and have been butchering pigs, goats, deer, turkeys and chickens for 8 years now. But I still don’t look forward to the task. I have to psych myself up and be in the right frame of mind for the day. It’s not a pretty job, but it is part of life on a farm. I like that my boy knows where his food comes from and how to grow/raise his own.
to Ken Toney's comment
Susy, I’d have to say the hardest part is the Spring preparation. In the Spring one never knows when the weather will truly break for garden season to begin. This year was one of those years. When the weather warms the soil enough and the Spring rains stop long enough to prep the garden for planting, the flurry begins to get it all planted mulched and on its way to harvest. Then the dreaded guy named Jack Frost comes calling and freezes every thing two days passed the frost free date. Dratts!! The other most difficult thing is processing the harvest. I don’t keep allot of the harvest but just give it away to friends and neighbors.
The easiest is just watching the garden grow during the late Spring and Summer. With mulch, weeds are minimal and are kind of fun to pull out. Garden therapy, I call it.
Have a great day in the garden.
to Nebraska Dave's comment
I was thinking this weekend that planting might be the easiest part of gardening–after all the prep work and planning and watching the weather, finally putting tomatoes in the ground is easy–and kind of anticlimactic! I think the most challenging part is scheduling–figuring out how to time fall crops, and just dealing with cooking/eating/preserving at the high points where you are loaded with food. But still, that’s a good challenge to have!
to Sara's comment
The most difficult part of gardening is when the seeds I started indoors get bigger. Finding the time to pot them up, and then properly hardening them off. I don’t think I have ever totally hardened plants off before I put them in. I always am too anxious. I forget to leave money in my budget to buy more potting soil.
The easiest part of gardening is prepping the soil. All I have to do is apply compost in the fall and spring. I do not till, so come planting time, I use my hand to make a hole for seeds or plants and pop them in. After the plants are up to a more stable size, I move compost and shredded leaves back around them.
to MN Reid's comment