Grow Your Own: Food Self-Sufficiency to Get Started

Reduce your grocery bill by learning to grow your own produce.

By Dana Benner
Updated on October 23, 2023
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Learn how to grow food your own food. Self-sufficiency tips on managing and starting a garden in any space that will produce great food with just a little work.

Consider the cost of buying a cucumber. Right now, cucumbers are running somewhere around a dollar each here in northern New England. Each cucumber doesn’t cost a dollar to grow, so why are you paying so much? Where does all of that money go? Very little of that dollar actually goes to the farmer. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that in 2021, 14.5 cents from each consumer dollar went to the farmer, while the rest went to the suppliers, processors, and retailers.

Is gardening really worth it financially? The answer is a resounding “yes!” The cost of food is going up, and if you figure in what you spend on fuel and time to obtain that food, you’ll see how you could help your budget by growing at least some of it. Whether you live on a 40-acre property or in an apartment, you can grow food, and in doing so, save money and even the environment. But before you can figure out how much you can save, take a serious look at how much you currently pay and, just as importantly, whom you’re paying. Factor in your time, and the cost of getting to the supermarket.

When all is said and done, if you grow your own cucumbers, I guarantee they’ll cost much less than a dollar apiece. Let’s say that a packet of good, non-GMO cucumber seeds costs around $4. If only half the seeds in the packet germinate, and each plant produces two cucumbers, the total cost of all of those cucumbers will be much less than a dollar apiece. In fact, considering all the factors, you should be at a net gain.

Basics of Growing Your Own Food

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