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Gardening on the Cheap

Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood is talking about CSA' s today. I really wanted to be involved in one but found it to be expensive to pay $650 in advance for the 1 share.
So we re-looked into organic veggie co-ops. We also found these out of our price due to "having" to purchase a certain dollar amount every 2 weeks. Also depending on the co-op you might not get to choose the produce you want.( We're not into kale, so paying for a months worth doesn't fit into our budget.)

What we did do: Joined 4-H, $10 dollars per child, per year. So we have had 4- 10x10
veggies plots with most of the seeds, plants, manure, and water
provided. Plus it's been great in many ways for our Chicks.They have
learned a lot from the Master Gardeners, so have we!
Diligence, hard work, perseverance and knowledge of the plant and
insect worlds has been gained. My oldest has a much better under-
standing of the work and effort needed to produce and how many of us
fail to see the HUGE blessing of living in our country!

Made our own "earth boxes". They are super and I can take them with
us when our home is sold! Plans available online. I'd put a link
but I don't know how :( **** Also they make GREAT gifts! They
cost about$12.50 to make, not including soil.

Get "free" manure from 4-H. We live in the burbs so it's hard to
come by!

Used bamboo that was growing in my Grandmother's backyard for trellis.

Used plastic coated wire mesh closet cubes for low fencing to keep
the bunnies out. Worked great and didn't cost anything! It was part
of our garage sale pile!

Found that cheaper seeds work sometimes even better than the organic
seeds!

Created wonderful family time away from the schoolbooks!

Got a great home composter for $40 at Sam's club!

We are sad to see it end. But I'm already thinking about September when our season starts again! We also hope to have chickens, depending on what happens with our house! If not maybe next year.

Also I want to say what a blessing it has been to read everyone else's post!

Comments

Abbi said…
An idea about CSA's. I read a magazine article about one where instead of paying for a share you could put in some hours of labor instead each month (or week). It sounded interesting. We have our own garden so it wouldn't work for us (as we are busy enought as it is) but for somebody in the city it might be very nice.

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