A belated inherited gene from my Mum. Enjoyment and escapism from world wide problems. Can't beat harvesting freshly picked fruit, veg, herbs that have the added bonus of definitely being free from chemicals/ pesticides. The pure joy of seeing beautiful blooms and the garden springing back to life in an array of dazzling ( or seemingly so) colour after the dark grey days of winter.The pride that goes with it knowing these were the seeds you had sown earlier. My need to nurture........now our nest is empty!! Because I simply love it!!!
There you go @Mike Allen the answer, in various forms, is because we enjoy it and it makes us feel better.
Out of interest when we began growing our own we decided that it would be wise to keep a record. So we set up a theoretical account. Anything bought for use in the garden from big things like a greenhouse down to packets of seeds were entered as Debits. Anything brought into the house from the garden was credited with the amount it would have cost to buy similar items. Obviously in the beginning, at the end of the year, the account was very much in the red. The deficit was carried over to the next year. However as time went on and the amount spent on major acquisitions grew less and the produce increased, the 'loss' grew smaller until in a fairly short time it changed into a profit. We did not add anything for my labour in producing the food nor did we deduct anything for the cost of going to the shops to buy so it was not a real indication, but it did serve a purpose in that the garden did pay for itself eventually.
