Always wanting...

I started this SFG thing (I love it) in the winter of 2013.
I cannot seem to get it done.
Everytime I think it's ok I come up with another idea, better this, better that, change this change that,
add this add that, do this do that, I'm wearing myself out for Pete's sake., not to mention my finances.
I suppose it will stop when my cash is all gone...probably just be able to afford weeds then.....

It'll be okay, jimmy.   After all, you could be spending your time and money on fishing, and have nothing to show for it!  

boffer wrote:It'll be okay, jimmy.   After all, you could be spending your time and money on fishing, and have nothing to show for it!  

+1  

Aahh, Jimmy, look at all the fun you're having!  Not only that, look at the great brain workout you're getting.  Won't have to join that online brain exercise program they advertise on TV.     (I stay awake at night designing things in my head and trying to figure out where to put them.)

 
hugs
rose.....
p.s. a lot of weeds are edible

Jimmy,
My guess is your not going to get it done as you said.  Just hope for a comfortable level of management.  Maybe the garden offers so much diverse satisfaction you keep looking for more!  Forces us outdoors, some exercise certainly with composting, commune with nature (personally I lose hours of time there..), you can eat your rewards now or save your harvest for later  and take loads of pictures along the way. You've made new friends online. You learn more each year and challenge yourself along the way.  There are ups and downs to deal with. For many it is emotionally lifting and therapeutic.  I think one could take on too much then it becomes work. Who wants another job around the house..  How about when the garden is going well, its almost too much fun.  We go at it like crazy then for many of us we get a winter break to dream, improve, and recharge. This is suppose to be the year I say stop at ten beds to stay manageable.. And the money part of it? I try not to think about it and trust the prized organic harvest with its ramped up nutrition makes it all worthwhile since I can hardly look at supermarket produce anymore.

Jimmy - We are a creative and inventive bunch! We can always find 'one more thing' to do out in our gardens. My personal experiment this year is to see what I can do with spending as little as possible! We shall see.....

DorothyG wrote:.........  (I stay awake at night designing things in my head and trying to figure out where to put them.)

Thanks for posting this DorothyG!  I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that!

GG

camprn wrote:

boffer wrote:It'll be okay, jimmy.   After all, you could be spending your time and money on fishing, and have nothing to show for it!  

+1  

+1

I'm always trying to find one more spot for a little box or pot.  Our nice renter said she tried to grow a tomato and pepper last summer in her sandy soil, and they failed.  Guess who will be getting a 4 x 4 as soon as my compost is done?  And some of my left over seedlings!  

I totally understand, Jimmy!  We do the same thing.  Thank goodness we have some room to expand.

I found the answer !!!!
In the build it section of the SFG book I found a brief sentence explaining putting together a SFG garden is like playing with an erector set..
In the 40s I wanted one soooo bad, however my parents never had the money to buy one...
There's the answer, I now have my erector set...

and Lincoln Logs!

Nah on the logs, they didn't have enough nuts and screws for me

Sometimes I wonder at spending all this time and money on gardening when I'm short both, so I know how you feel.

Today, though, I wandered into the local grocery store and saw they added a new organic section. Veggies for four bucks a pound. Not that I could afford to buy them anyway, not at the rate I eat vegetables, so I can't say that if I had to pay for organic veggies I'd spend just as much as I do on gardening or more. But ... at least I can HAVE organic veggies by growing them myself. And real ones, not organic as defined by lawyers and corporate lobbyists and senators who won't get their campaigns financed if they don't play ball with the agribusiness powers-that-be.

How much is good health worth? Nothing, or possibly everything, depending on one's outlook and attitude and situation in life. But I do know one thing ... it suddenly comes to feel like it's worth a lot more once you've gotten sick. There's pleasure to be had in knowing you're taking better care of your health by eating cleaner, healthier food before you get sick and it's all but too late to make much of a difference. Eating healthy produce gives me a little bit more peace of mind that I can enjoy in the here-and-now. It's a feeling of just that little bit more security than I would otherwise have, of being practical about my health, of a bit of extra insurance. Plus it tastes good.

+1

I love NOT having to buy "unknown poisoned" produce at the stores.

+2!

jimmycee, when you first started and then collected enough leaves to fill about ten 4x4x4 leaf corrals I thought then you have taken on more than you could manage, as I had filled one 4x4x4 and was finding it hard work to turn the pile to produce finished compost after adding the appropriate greens etc.
Anyway, I have enjoyed enormously your progress since then and I think you are doing very well and giving us ideas to try ourselves. 
For myself, there are so many things I want to do, hampered by age and lack of money, but I have learned to appreciate what progress I have made instead of wishing for what cannot be. In fact, I take pride in getting results on a shoestring and just love it when I sit down to a meal wholey produced by myself, and also the pleasure in sharing with friends and neighbours.
A little while ago I started a thread "I feel Inferior" and you were one of the lovely people here who cheered me up no end so that I soon got over that down feeling and felt my usual optimistic self again. Thank you!

Marc Iverson: our local supermarket has suddenly expanded its tiny area devoted to organic produce and I am really astounded by the prices. If they halved the prices I would still have difficulty in affording any decent amount, so I still buy the regular stuff, except for things like strawberries.   Last year I grew quite a lot of greens and also bought from the farmers' market and was able to dehydrate enough to almost see me through to when I start harvesting again.  Just need to put away a bit more.  I also made up some of my shortfall by sprouting, mainly sunflower seeds, still doing it for another couple of weeks.

This gardening has really taken over my life and there is always something new to learn and experiment with and that does not take any money. All this makes me enjoy my home that much more so that I will resist to the end of my days not to end up in a home.

jimmy cee wrote:I found the answer !!!!
In the build it section of the SFG book I found a brief sentence explaining putting together a SFG garden is like playing with an erector set..
In the 40s I wanted one soooo bad, however my parents never had the money to buy one...
There's the answer, I now have my erector set...

I've finished preaching, jimmy. I'm happy you have found the answer.  

Kelejan wrote:jimmycee, when you first started and then collected enough leaves to fill about ten 4x4x4 leaf corrals I thought then you have taken on more than you could manage, as I had filled one 4x4x4 and was finding it hard work to turn the pile to produce finished compost after adding the appropriate greens etc.
Anyway, I have enjoyed enormously your progress since then and I think you are doing very well and giving us ideas to try ourselves. 

Agreed. jimmycee, it's fun watching you do things your own way and come up with some way to do it, whether it's laying grid lines in a way that never would have occurred to me or scrounging up massive piles of compostables or building beds and frames that often look a little different from the ones I'm used to seeing but still seem like great ideas that are fun to think about applying in some way to my own stuff.

Marc Iverson: our local supermarket has suddenly expanded its tiny area devoted to organic produce and I am really astounded by the prices. If they halved the prices I would still have difficulty in affording any decent amount, so I still buy the regular stuff, except for things like strawberries.   Last year I grew quite a lot of greens and also bought from the farmers' market and was able to dehydrate enough to almost see me through to when I start harvesting again.  Just need to put away a bit more.  I also made up some of my shortfall by sprouting, mainly sunflower seeds, still doing it for another couple of weeks.

That's on my agenda now, too -- learning to dehydrate and can, and also saving up to buy the equipment to do it. This forum has definitely stirred up my desire to figure out how to do stuff like that. I love the idea of growing tons of stuff as insurance I'll have enough for myself and maybe even to share with some neighbors, but don't want to see it just go to waste, so preserving sounds like a great and natural companion skill to gardening (and cooking!).

Last year we ate so many tomatoes that if I'd had to buy them our grocery bills would have been eye-popping. Good thing we have a very successful tomato-growing neighbor who let us take as much as we liked. I can't even think of buying organic in stores, for the most part. Onions at our local supermarket are up to two bucks a pound now, and that's for non-organic! Ridiculous.

This gardening has really taken over my life and there is always something new to learn and experiment with and that does not take any money. All this makes me enjoy my home that much more so that I will resist to the end of my days not to end up in a home.

It does make one appreciate nature and one's environment a lot more, doesn't it? It makes one more attuned to one's life, which is all we have moment by moment. Gardening sort of rejiggers the clock and helps us slow down enough to notice and appreciate life more.

No matter where we end up, it would be nice to get there having really paid attention, and learned to appreciate what we have, along the way.

Kelejan
Not to worry, you got to much spirit to end up in a home.

Truthfully I wasn't complaining about always doing doing doing, I enjoy sitting and relaxing, however when I do I am always thinking what to change....I made hoops for one of my beds, now since I don't like the covering I am going to remove it and build some frames to cover my small crops, keep the bugs out and also be able to cover for frost at will.
I just started shredding my last falls leaves today, a large plastic trash barrel, a battery operated weed eater has saved me from getting another piece of stuff ( shredder ) .
The weather has turned, my nasturtiums are in the pots, marigolds looking good, broccoli, kohlrabi, lettuce, chard, and some herbs in the cold frame survived the cold onslaught of a few weeks ago..all's well with the world......
oh ohhh.gotta go for dinner...

jimmy cee wrote:I found the answer !!!!
In the build it section of the SFG book I found a brief sentence explaining putting together a SFG garden is like playing with an erector set..
In the 40s I wanted one soooo bad, however my parents never had the money to buy one...
There's the answer, I now have my erector set...

PVC is the new erector set. And look at how we all use PVC is our gardens.

Kay

jimmy cee wrote:I found the answer !!!!
In the build it section of the SFG book I found a brief sentence explaining putting together a SFG garden is like playing with an erector set..
In the 40s I wanted one soooo bad, however my parents never had the money to buy one...
There's the answer, I now have my erector set...

I got a hand-me-down erector set when I was about 10. I LOVED THAT THING!!! It kept me from taking apart the vacuum cleaner, toaster, lawn mower, etc! Now I play with scavenged wood and other assorted goodies for house and garden. I have dreams of PVC creations!

GG

Goosegirl wrote:

jimmy cee wrote:I found the answer !!!!
In the build it section of the SFG book I found a brief sentence explaining putting together a SFG garden is like playing with an erector set..
In the 40s I wanted one soooo bad, however my parents never had the money to buy one...
There's the answer, I now have my erector set...

I got a hand-me-down erector set when I was about 10.  I LOVED THAT THING!!!  It kept me from taking apart the vacuum cleaner, toaster, lawn mower, etc!  Now I play with scavenged wood and other assorted goodies for house and garden.  I have dreams of PVC creations!

GG

I used to play with my brothers' Mecanno set of metals strips with holes in them and screws etc.  A bit like a metal Leggo. I'm afraid my Mom dispaired of me as she wanted a girly-girl.

Kelejan wrote:

Goosegirl wrote:

jimmy cee wrote:I found the answer !!!!
In the build it section of the SFG book I found a brief sentence explaining putting together a SFG garden is like playing with an erector set..
In the 40s I wanted one soooo bad, however my parents never had the money to buy one...
There's the answer, I now have my erector set...

I got a hand-me-down erector set when I was about 10.  I LOVED THAT THING!!!  It kept me from taking apart the vacuum cleaner, toaster, lawn mower, etc!  Now I play with scavenged wood and other assorted goodies for house and garden.  I have dreams of PVC creations!

GG

I used to play with my brothers' Mecanno set of metals strips with holes in them and screws etc.  A bit like a metal Leggo. I'm afraid my Mom dispaired of me as she wanted a girly-girl.

Yep - my poor mom never had a chance to have girly girls.  That's what happens when you have 3 boys first.  My sister and I liked dresses, stilettos, and curls, we just climbed trees and fences in them!  (dresses and chain-link do not play well together, but pointy-toed stilettos are great for climbing them!)

GG  

GG -                         

Agree with GG. I just love a good building project. My Dad was a carpentry teacher at a tech school so he taught us a lot. He never felt being female should exclude me from learning anything. He taught me and my brothers about building, working with wood, how to maintain our car and little bits about plumbing and electrical. Through watching and helping him (and driving him crazy with endless questions) I also learned to not be afraid of trying to do something, to be creative and how to think a project through first. It's amazing how much you can do with the right tools and knowing how to use them. Thanks Dad!!! He's just amazing. Thankfully my sister has the responsibility of being the girly girl of the family. I never got the hang of high heels or makeup.