This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy was my first dog and he thought the garden was his, even though I did all the work. Now Suzie and Charley follow in his footsteps. We're located near Boston (USDA zone 6A). I have a community plot, a backyard vegetable garden, fruit trees, berry bushes, chickens, and bees. I use sustainable organic methods and do my best to grow all of my family's vegetables myself.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
the economics of hobby beekeeping
Remember the book "The $64 tomato"? Well, I did some calculating to figure out how much a jar of honey was costing me to produce. The bottom line - it's an expensive bottle of honey. (more....)
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Sometimes when I think of the money I spend on gardening [especially on "set up" type improvements], I can get a mental picture of myself as digging a hole and throwing money in! However, if I view it in terms of a hobby, it suddenly looks like the smartest hobby ever: loads of fresh organic food, plus fresh air and exercise, and then all the other things that a typical hobby provides - engagement, excitement, community and peace.
So I hear you about the honey! But actually making some money too and recouping set up costs is great!
Yes! Air, exersize, satisfaction, learning, meeting people. I love my bees, chickens, dogs, and gardens. I think my chicken eggs may be even more expensive than my honey. (I'll tally them up and see.) The vegetables i grow I think maybe actually pretty reasonable in costs for organic local grown produce though I haven't tallied them up. I look at farmers markets and vegetables aren't cheap. And then there're my dogs. Definitely expensive, both in time and cost. But so many returns for me. I can't begin to list.
4 comments:
Sometimes when I think of the money I spend on gardening [especially on "set up" type improvements], I can get a mental picture of myself as digging a hole and throwing money in! However, if I view it in terms of a hobby, it suddenly looks like the smartest hobby ever: loads of fresh organic food, plus fresh air and exercise, and then all the other things that a typical hobby provides - engagement, excitement, community and peace.
So I hear you about the honey! But actually making some money too and recouping set up costs is great!
Yes! Air, exersize, satisfaction, learning, meeting people. I love my bees, chickens, dogs, and gardens. I think my chicken eggs may be even more expensive than my honey. (I'll tally them up and see.) The vegetables i grow I think maybe actually pretty reasonable in costs for organic local grown produce though I haven't tallied them up. I look at farmers markets and vegetables aren't cheap. And then there're my dogs. Definitely expensive, both in time and cost. But so many returns for me. I can't begin to list.
And don't forget you keep your online visitors happy too! You give us encouragement, ideas and show us how to accomplish those ideas.
Thanks. I'm glad.
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