Help---Am I Crazy

[Fire-Man]

Someone please give me something positive to think about---about what I am fixing to tell you. My neighbor wants me to work for him part-time and he will pay me $14 per hour, inside work and his shop is only 300 yards from my "Homestead"------No, I chose not to help him so I can do like I did this morning. I got up and went into the garden around 8:30 to pick my dixie lee peas, only picked a little over 1/2 bushel, but I had to pull some weeds while I was picking so it took me around 1 1/2 hr(I also got a bad back so I have to move slow), I was soaked from sweating, so I jumped in the pool for 5 minutes to cool off-------To save time I took the peas to the sheller about 7 miles away--they were backed up so it took me 1 1/2 hours round trip to get them shelled and $3 to the sheller. Then I looked and washed them, then blanched them, then hot packed them--now they are in the pressure canner-----only 7 PINTS------I am wondering am I crazy-----------its after 3pm. I have been getting it since 8:30 except for a few minutes for 7 pints of peas. I bought a can(almost a pint) of green beans from the grocery for 50 cent and I really like them just as good as the pea's I am putting up--It cost me over 50 cent a piece for the empty pint jars alone(sure I can reuse them). So I am thinking-----How much is these 7 pints worth-------I got $3 in getting them shelled, but I could have done it and saved the $3. If I started figuring I would get real depressed I think--Awww lets figure. Got to have the land to plant them on, then prepare and plant, fertilize, hoe, water, pick, shell, process---lets don't forget tools to work the garden with, tractor, tiller, hoe, etc or the $200 canning pot I bought to process them with----I could have worked for my neighbor and made $98 by now and could have bought 190--that 190---14.5oz cans of beans in just the same amount of time I have been messing with them today--keeping in mind I do like the taste of these canned beans from the grocery store. Am I Crazy??? Randy
PS Guess I have got the gardening blue's!!

[wy_white_wolf]

Originally Posted by Fire-Man

....Am I Crazy??? Randy.....

Yes, I thought that was a prerequisite (sp?) to homesteading.

[Ravenlost]

Did you do all that just for the seven pints of peas? I don't think so! I think you did it cause you enjoy being out in your garden, working at your own speed for no one but yourself.

All morning you've been doing what YOU wanted to do with no one to boss you around.

That's priceless.

[michiganfarmer]

wel you could use manure for fertilizer, weed by hand, shell them by hand, and freeze them. they would be much less expensive then. Part of the reason I raise my own food is for the labor involved wich helps keep me healthy, and it takes longer wich ends up being learning time for my kids

[Terri]

Peas are like that. I don't usually raise them anymore.

for the same amount of effort you could have frozen 100 ears or more of sweet corn, it is just that peas are more labor intensive.

For that matter, I can pick a gallon of blackberries an hour, and if you look at the cost of berries in those little plastic containers.......

OH, and yes. My family has ALWAYS thought that I was crazy, ever since I was little. So, maybe you DO have to be crazy?

[susieM]

What about working part time? To pay for the peas, like.

[Terri]

Peas are like that. I don't usually raise them anymore.

for the same amount of effort you could have frozen 100 ears or more of sweet corn, it is just that peas are more labor intensive.

For that matter, I can pick a gallon of blackberries an hour, and if you look at the cost of berries in those little plastic containers.......

OH, and yes. My family has ALWAYS thought that I was crazy, ever since I was little. So, maybe you DO have to be crazy?

[chris30523]

It is not crazy to do what you enjoy.If you stop enjoying it then it is time for a change..I like getting up in the morning early .I don't go straight to the chores ..I take a cup of coffee out with me and enjoy my garden,flowers,dogs,goats,chickens,horses...If I worked for someone else I couldn't do this....

[Farmer Willy]

Yep, crazy as an outhouse rat. Welcome to the club.

[Jerngen]

You could sing that song by matchbox20 while you're shelling your peas.....
"I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell........... "
Seriously tho, the freedom to do what you want, when you want is worth it in my humble opinion.

[Shepherd]

Well, for me it's the satisfaction of knowing I CAN raise and preserve my own food, if I need to.

If I choose to buy my veggies canned from the store, I can do that... and HAVE done it.... particularly when I can get 4 cans for $1 - I'll buy cases of it. But when I grow my own food and process it myself, I know it's healthy food. And I think it's a good thing to know how to grow and process your own food. I have a lot of pride in my gardens and canning.

Last year was our first time to raise our own steer & pig for the freezer too; along with our chickens and our home grown veggies & fruits, we don't need too much from the grocery store anymore... that's a GREAT feeling.

But if I desperately needed the money, I'd take the job and buy the canned goods on sale.

[Dink]

you could work for him part time and do your own thing at home too.

[affenpinschermom]

A lot of what we do on our homesteads is certainly not cost effective, especially if you figure the time involved. I think most of us do what we do for other reasons. For me it is the satisfaction of being less dependent on this fragile system we live in and also for the quality of the life we have. You can't buy food like we grow ourselves and they don't sell pills that make you feel as good as we do after a long days work on our own place, sitting by a fire we cut the wood for and eating a meal straight off of the farm. If that's crazy, I guess I'm a real lunatic, because I am totally satisfied.

[MELOC]

you could shell the peas yourself and save on gas and have it done in about the same amount of time. not being critical, just an observation. here's another thought. green beans are great producers. you eat the whole bean and they are not hard to can. you could even can them whole instead of snapping them. you would get twice the yield from green beans as peas easy. i would grow beans and buy the peas. you still have time to plant green beans.

i am torn about weed pulling and mulching to prevent weeds. it seems just as hard for me to scrounge up mulch as it is to weed a garden. no suggestions there. some folks use newspaper or cardboard. i cannot seem to do that to my garden...it just seems wrong somehow.

$14 per hour does sound pretty sweet for part time work. i could sure use that gig right now. i do like being home though. working a full time job seems to mean living for the weekend...that just ain't good enough for me. a part time or temporary job paying well would be so sweet, i wish i could find one that paid more than minimum wage. i really don't miss working for "the man" however.

[Rockin'B]

Peas are one of my most favorite veggies but we don't put any up. They never make it that long. We eat a ton of them just grazing in the garden. Walk paths littered with hulls...

We do get enough to eat at the table at the height of the season, but it's really more a treat than anything else.

My family will never be without peas in the garden. It's almost a competition on who can find and eat the most raw peas while in the garden.

Yummmmm......

[Spinner]

Yes you are crazy, we all are, but ain't it FUN!

[iocane]

Well you know what it takes to can peas. Guess its better then those who have no idea how the food in the store got there. If the world was left to them, we would all be eating some form of plastics. With the long list of chemicals in the ingrediant list of some items; I really wonder what people are actually eating. With what you grow and can yourself, you know what you are eating. With the peas in the store they could have all sorts of chemicals on them. Those who touched the crop before it went into the can could have strange diseases. Ok, I am paranoid about food.

[comfortablynumb]

well at DG I can buy pint cans of baby peas 3 fer a buck.

so, 3 bucks would buy 9 pint cans of peas.

I'm not picky about if i grow em or honduras grows em....
peas is peas.

or

I can buy 2 12 oz bags of dry peas, thats 24 oz, 1 lb 8 oz of dry peas for 3 bucks.

I like fresh peas off the vine for munching, but peas are alot of work to prep and can.
I know how, I just dont have to at this time... if I had to grow peas, I can do it.

I have 3 beds full of peas... Ive been eating fresh peas for weeks, I gave the ripe peas to my mom she likes shelling and freezing peas....

I like opening a can of peas from DG.
lol

I almost hope the pole beans dont grow cuz I will have to can those myself...

keep your home job, work sucks.

[Pony]

Okay, we're all a little crazy here, so that's a silly question to start with!

While I agree that work sucks, I also know that it's wise to make hay while the sun shines -- no matter what kind of hay you're making. A $14 an hour gig practically in my back yard? Heck, yes, I'd take it. Wouldn't work it the rest of my life, but I'd do it for a while. Gotta pay the piper if you're gonna dance, you know?

Then I'd have spent my down time ripping out those pea plants and putting in something worthwhile, like the things others mentioned: beans, corn, ANYthing but those darned peas. As Numb said, peas is peas. They're so labor intensive I just cannot get excited over having them fresh!

Pony!

And what is the price of feeding your soul?

If you can answer that with a dollar figure, then you ought to have been working for your neighbor..if not..I'm glad that you enjoyed your day on the homestead.