The only real currency that exists!

in #life4 years ago

If you’re friends with me, at some point you’ve probably heard me say, “The only real currency is the amount of energy it takes to plant a seed and harvest the crop.”. It’s a Marx quote that I overheard someone say at @caffetto years ago. It really resonated with me, and the time frame I heard it was 2017, when currency was obviously on my mind more than ever. I’ve thought about it at depth, and around that same time, built my first raised beds and tried some amateur gardening.

@vermillionfox and I have further expanded our gardening skills, since that first season, but this year, with COVID and grocery stores being cleaned out of food, that quote has been echoing in my mind more than ever. This year, as an investment for ourselves, we expanded from two raised beds to six! It was a ton of work and a ton of money. Soil alone ended up costing us over $700. Minnesota winters are drawn way out so we couldn’t start planting until early May.

February, we started growing starter plants from seeds in our basement with a 175W full spectrum LED lamp. By the time we started moving those plants in to the beds, all the vegetables and flowers had a great start. Lettuce, kale, paste and Roma tomatoes, peas, strawberries, onions, squash, cucumbers and zucchini. One of the smartest things we did in hindsight was surround each raised bed with flowers which brought all the pollinators.

I’ve been vegan for over a year, and at some point, I realized that 60% of my diet is fresh fruits and vegetables. The satisfaction of being able to walk in your back yard and garnish a wrap or sandwich cannot be understated. It’s been an huge sense of accomplishment and I feel psychologically meaningful to grow something in the face of so much loss, pain and despair in the world around us. Zero regrets on this incredible investment.

I’ve seen @lukestokes share videos on Twitter of his wild multi-vegetable apparatus and, although several weeks behind, once Minnesota warms up, we get hot, humid and lots of rain. I took these photos during an afternoon walk through of the beds and no longer have to be envious of others’ gardens. Watermelons as big as basketballs, copious amounts of cucumbers, and so many tomatoes I’ll have no choice but to be making sauce.

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This green currency is the most valuable to me. Thank you for sharing your garden with us <3

You have a lovely garden! I admire you being a vegan, we are what we eat and that's a very wise choice for a lifestyle!

My mother loves planting too, initially, I was so tired of the constant planting was I was little and made to help but now all grown up having guavas, vegetables, coconut etc always available is amazing. Your garden is beautiful.

Awesome work! Are those calendulas? :) you can use plantnet app if not sure. If they are they're great for inflammation/burns. Not sure how exactly to use and make into lotion/cream/extract, but I've seen it sold as tea in a pharmacy. You might be able to cook it in olive oil and use that on skin.

Wow you have fresh food. Amazing work.

Wow, exelente publicacion, muy buenas fotos, gracias por compartir, te voto y te sigo.

Nice job! I finally pulled some Zucchini from our garden this past weekend. I had to use a paintbrush to pollinate them by hand, but now they are growing like crazy. We made some bread from one of them on Sunday. We have been pulling in ton of tomatoes and peppers as well.