The Naysayers Were Right

I actually am a shitty farmer.

Well, my chickens are alive and well, so maybe I'm an ok chicken farmer. But as far as growing "crops" is concerned, my brown thumb is staying true to its nature.

I could blame it on the dry weather. I could blame it on our shitty clay soil. But the truth--the real truth--is that the only thing to blame is my laziness. I rarely weed. I water the garden only when Hubby nags me to do it. And I let my harvest ripen and rot on the vine because I don't feel like picking the veggies.

Yeah, I am a shitty farmer.

Of course, I broke one of the cardinal rules of gardening: I grew a bunch of things my family won't eat.

For example, I had three zucchini plants that produced an abundance of zucchinis. I didn't eat a single one. Each massive vegetable ended up in my compost bin. Why? Neither Hubby nor I like zucchini. I grew it because I heard it was easy to grow, and since this was my first year gardening, I thought I'd stick with easy stuff.

My tomato plants fared a similar fate. I actually DO eat tomatoes, so I planted three roma tomato plants. Unfortunately, I failed to realize that I would never be able to eat so many tomatoes (I eat about one a week). I did salvage a few and turned them into freezer spaghetti sauce. But, for the most part, they're just ripening and rotting on the vine.

It's such a huge waste, and I feel guilty and ridiculous for it all. The only thing my garden did this year was show me what NOT to do.

I actually still have some corn that's just starting to grow little ears, and I suspect I will eat that. I also have a few green bean plants and some pumpkin/squash that have a ways to go before they're ready. Hubby actually eats green beans, so they won't go to waste. And I plan to give the pumpkins to neighbors and family for Halloween decorations. So at least there are a few things that will actually get eaten/used in my garden.

I did learn a valuable lesson, however: Only plant what you'll eat, and only plant as much as you can reasonably use.

I also learned that if we have to rely on my garden in a shit+fan scenario, we're going to starve to death.