Will Work for Food

Well, we ran the numbers from this year's garden produce and came up with $1117.99.  That is the gross cash value of what we grew on The Homestead during 2012.  It sounds like a decent amount until you consider the inputs.

First, of course, is the out of pocket cash that we spent on seeds, hoses, soil, starts, etc.  We spent $528.84 on that stuff in 2012.  (I know, that looks ridiculous, but I challenge you to keep track of every trip you make to True Value, Home Depot, and the local nursery.  It adds up.)

Second, is the cost of the land.  We debated this for a long time because a big part of our land costs are tied up in our house.  You've got to have a place to live anyway, so isn't the garden free?  Well, if you just wanted a place to live, you could live in an apartment, so the extra land for a garden must be worth something, right?  I'm going to say five to ten percent, just for the sake of argument.  So, if our yearly cost of owning the property, paying the taxes, and buying water are around $6100, the cost of "rent" for the garden is between $300 and $600.

Third, is the cost of labor.  But, before we get into that discussion, perhaps we should do some arithmetic.  Take our revenues ($1117.99) minus our direct costs ($528.84), and you have $589.15 left.  If we are going to charge 5% rent, we've got 279.15 left.  If, on the other hand, we are going to charge 10% rent, we are already in the hole.

Basically, we are working for free.  The cost of labor is zilch, because we have essentially nothing left.  Fine, say the lovers of local and home grown food . . . we can live on love.  But, the problem here is that love doesn't keep the weight on.  We still have to go out and buy burgers and bacon to keep me from falling below 160 lbs.  Next year, instead of tracking food value, we may need to track hours worked and weight lost, so that we have something to compare to our 1100 bucks.