Monday, August 24, 2009

Drumroll Please: We Have Broken Even

Yes, we have officially broken even in our garden.


What does this mean? Well, I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet of all the money we’ve spent on vegetable seeds and plants this year VERSUS how much we would have paid (on average) at the grocery store or farmers markets for the same produce…..and we have broken even.

In 2009, we spent a grand total of $241.68 on vegetable seeds and plants. This does not count what I planted this year from seed packets I purchased in previous years, please keep that in mind.

I just tallied up the latest prices and poundages, etc, for our veggie harvests and IF we had purchased these veggies at the grocery store, we would have paid ……(drumroll)…..(suspense)…...

$298.04

Seriously. AND that only counts the following:

-Asparagus
-Yellow Beets
-Blackberries
-Blueberries
-Garlic
-Leeks
-Spring Peas
-Potatoes, Red
-Raspberries
-Spinach
-Strawberries

It does NOT count in the 76 onions, dozens of heirloom tomatoes, 45lb of paste tomatoes, fall crops, beans, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, okra, herbs, peanuts, sweet potatoes, fingerling potatoes, or the Yukon Gold potatoes. Oh, and saffron. The saffron alone will probably put us over $1000.

I will be posting an overall list eventually, but probably not until winter…when I have time.

So. Save yourself some money. Grow your own food. It is worth it.

7 comments:

Daphne Gould said...

Congrats. I'd love to see the final list. I keep my list on a spreadsheet or I'd go crazy.

Jody M said...

Mine is on a spreadsheet, too. I'm just winging it this year!

Angie said...

:: hoots ::

Mama Pea said...

Kudos to you for such good record keeping! Even if we gardeners don't come out ahead monetarily, the health benefits we get from our fresh produce is immeasureable. It's worth every second of moaning, groaning, aches, tiredness, and gosh-my-hands-look-terrible.

Me voici ∞ Here I am said...

Fantastic!

rose AKA Walk in the Woods - she/her said...

Wow - the (former) financial geek in me just dug this in a far out way! :D

Lee V said...

Lovely blog you have heree