• ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    The cost of dirt is “land”. It’s not actually free. And considering I have to work for a living, my free time is a resource I like to spend carefully, so digging, clearing rocks and weeds and spreading fresh topsoil is usually not my choice activity.

    There’s a reason farmers get paid, and it takes economy of scale and subsidization to bring the cost of produce down to as cheap as it is.

    Gardening can be fun and rewarding, but let’s not pretend that it just free food that appears by magic.

    • Maeve@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Funny. I’m growing oregano, tomatoes, squash in pots, inside on cold days. Your limited free time probably costs more work hours than a bag of dirt and a few seeds but excuse yourself any way you want.

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        “excuse myself”? I don’t need an excuse for what I enjoy doing in my free time.

        What you’re missing is that I don’t enjoy gardening, and I don’t pretend that I’m saving significant sums of money by doing it. I do enjoy what I do in my free time, so I chose to enjoy myself, rather than spend my time doing what feels like work.

        I’m not talking actual monetary costs, I’m talking the actual expenditure of time.

        You enjoy gardening, and that’s good for you. The time you spend growing your tomatoes isn’t time taken away from an activity you enjoy.
        Not everyone is in a place where spending time doing an activity they don’t enjoy is worth avoiding paying for produce.

        • Maeve@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Gardening can be fun and rewarding, but let’s not pretend that it just free food that appears by magic.”

          Guess the italicized part threw me.

          If you don’t enjoy it, you don’t, and that’s fine. My apologies for taking you so literally.