At this point in 2008, we are watching our retirement portfolio evaporate. Thousands of dollars lost, thanks to the shenanigans (notice the careful edit?) of corrupt, money-hungry thirty-somethings and their bosses in the investment management business. So, as they "retire" with multimillion dollar bonuses, we juggle our change and try to figure out what investments will weather this financial storm.
By contrast, I've been computing the investment return from our garden, especially some of the less common items - or what we've done with common items. For example:
At the end of the season, I chop up all of our multi-colored bell peppers, italian peppers and any of the mild peppers. At the same time, I chop up a good number of our harvested purple and yellow onions. The two piles of peppers and onions are mixed together and packed (>1/2 cup) into Ziplock snack-sized bags. This year, I put up about 50 of those little bags. We go through them like mad - they defrost in minutes and are perfect for omelettes, soups, meatloaf, spagetti sauce... you name it!
Well, I happened to notice that our local supermarkets also carry little plastic containers of the very same thing, same size and undoubtably for the same reason - using up produce that would otherwise go bad. BUT! They are charging $2.50 for each container. (Pre-prepared fresh produce is convenience food, don't you know?) So..... without counting all of the dozens of peppers and onions we've used fresh from the garden over the entire summer, our return on about a $10 investment of seeds and plants.... comes to.... $125.00. If the online calculators and my husband are correct that's an investment return of 1250% per year - actually, twice that much since the return only took six months.
Uh-huh. Eight years ago I spent $35.00 each for two asian persimmon trees, one Hachiya and one Fuyu. This year we harvested hundreds of persimmons -- and I do mean HUNDREDS of persimmons. I noticed that the local Harris Teeter, admittedly the "high priced" supermarket in our area, was selling Fuyu persimmons for $2.50 each (it's the magic number, what can I tell you?) At 4/$10, we're up to $750 worth of persimmons in this one season alone from my $35.00 tree. Virtually all of which we gave away. (The rest will continue to be eaten fresh or become frozen persimmon "pulp" for whatever baking inspiration hits this winter. )
By contrast, I've been computing the investment return from our garden, especially some of the less common items - or what we've done with common items. For example:
At the end of the season, I chop up all of our multi-colored bell peppers, italian peppers and any of the mild peppers. At the same time, I chop up a good number of our harvested purple and yellow onions. The two piles of peppers and onions are mixed together and packed (>1/2 cup) into Ziplock snack-sized bags. This year, I put up about 50 of those little bags. We go through them like mad - they defrost in minutes and are perfect for omelettes, soups, meatloaf, spagetti sauce... you name it!
Well, I happened to notice that our local supermarkets also carry little plastic containers of the very same thing, same size and undoubtably for the same reason - using up produce that would otherwise go bad. BUT! They are charging $2.50 for each container. (Pre-prepared fresh produce is convenience food, don't you know?) So..... without counting all of the dozens of peppers and onions we've used fresh from the garden over the entire summer, our return on about a $10 investment of seeds and plants.... comes to.... $125.00. If the online calculators and my husband are correct that's an investment return of 1250% per year - actually, twice that much since the return only took six months.
Uh-huh. Eight years ago I spent $35.00 each for two asian persimmon trees, one Hachiya and one Fuyu. This year we harvested hundreds of persimmons -- and I do mean HUNDREDS of persimmons. I noticed that the local Harris Teeter, admittedly the "high priced" supermarket in our area, was selling Fuyu persimmons for $2.50 each (it's the magic number, what can I tell you?) At 4/$10, we're up to $750 worth of persimmons in this one season alone from my $35.00 tree. Virtually all of which we gave away. (The rest will continue to be eaten fresh or become frozen persimmon "pulp" for whatever baking inspiration hits this winter. )
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