There has been a lot of press lately about how the price of food has increased. All this discussion has got me thinking.
A few years ago the then editor of New Zealand Gardener, Lynda Hallinan, tried to live off her land. But there was only one of her to feed. No offence Lynda, but it’s a bit harder to feed four.
So I’ve been thinking about a new adventure. From August I’m going to try and see how much we can grow, on our section, for our family of four. My plan is to document what we grow, what succeeds, what doesn’t and how much we save (or don’t!).
I know that those of us with families are stretched for time and the family will go and get fish and chips if you serve them cream of silverbeet soup for the third day in a row. With that in mind I don’t expect that we will be able to grow all that we eat. The idea is to see how much we can grow and inspire others to do the same.
I guess there is no such thing as a typical family so I’ll re-introduce the tribe so you can get an ide
a of who I’m feeding.
G1 is 11 1/2, and growing like a pumpkin on compost. She eats as much as me, but since she is now size 10 in women’s clothing, and still growing, she is allowed to.
G2 is 9, never short for her age, she is the height of an average 11 year old, fortunately she doesn’t e
at like one yet.
DA MAN is still 6’2, he is supposed to be eating less, but he still has to fill that lanky frame. I took this picture of him after I explained that the vege options will have to alternate between broad beans and silverbeet in October.
Then there is me. As an active women of generous height, 178cm last time my children measured me, (that’s just shy of 6’ in old currency), I eat like a man. I tell myself that is OK, since I can eyeball most men I meet.
Along with the gardening there will be other tips to help families shave their food bills and recipes for using all that food I’m going to grow. I don’t know it all and if you have any good ideas let me know.
So are you ready to join me on my new adventure?
Does fine weather make you feel better?
My girls caught one of these yesterday. It is a freshwater crayfish. They caught it in our stream using a net bought for them by a single girl at church. The net has been a wonderful toy, a great gift!
Our crab apple tree has a prolific crop every year. In past years all of this crop has been used for either one or two. This is because to make jelly you need a piece of muslin to strain the juice from the pulp. Despite the fact that I do spend time in fabric shops I never got around to buying a piece of muslin. Until last year. But when I went down to check on the status of the crab apple crop they were all gone. I can only guess that birds were the culprits.
I know it’s Saturday, but Friday came and went. Just pretend it’s Friday while you’re reading this.
Eating this week
Yesterday I went shopping for our weeks worth of fresh fruit and vegetables at a local market. I always try and buy from the market because it is cheaper than the supermarket.
I brought a cauliflower at $1.80 (it’s on the small side), 3kg of onions at $2.80, a 400g bag of mushrooms which was $3.95, red kumara $3.13, and orange kumara, $2.60. So I spent a total of $14.28 on veges. I also spent $17 on fruit. At the moment we don’t have any fruit in our garden apart from 6 mandarins, which are on a tree I planted last year.
So this week will eat cabbage. I planted 6 savoys in February and this number 5. Cabbages were about $1.80 at the market.
We will also eat lettuce. I know this iceberg looks OK on the outside but I suspect that it is harbouring slugs. I think it is worth about $1.80, lettuces are expensive at this time of the year.
But the best salad potential is under that plastic. This is Kings Seeds original mesclun mix. I love it and as you can see I have a great crop, and I have already cut it once, so this is re-growth. I think that two salads worth, which is what we will eat, is worth about $3.00.
So this week our garden saved us $8.30 or about 2 coffees.
On the down side while gardening yesterday I ripped a large whole in the seat of my pants, so I’m $40.00 in debt because I’ll have to buy a new pair. DA MAN did take a photo, but my children thought the sight of my knickers, viewed through the hole was pornography. Further more since a child was standing next me, it was child pornography. How can I argue with logic like that.