A book called "The Mini Farming Guide to Vegetable Gardening"

It is written by Brett L. Markham and I got it through inter library loan through my local library.

(I have no affiliation with Brett or with Skyhorse publishing.)

I have only read a few pages of this book and I am already liking it.  I hope no one minds if I share a paragraph or two that have "hit" me.

"When you grow your own vegetables, you can grow them far less expensively than they can be purchased, thereby making it much more feasible to follow our mother's advice.

Another reason why people don't eat enough vegetables, I am sad to say, is because most vegetables you can buy at the supermarket are unappetizing.  Humans have a natural evolutionary desire to consume the most calorie-dense food available in order to avoid starvation.  To a degree, this can explain our preference for snake cakes over rutabagas.  But another important ingredient in that equation is that industrial agriculture has turned what should be a culinary delight into something so tasteless and useless that it can't be consumed in quantity without a dip or sauce to disguise its bland character."

This is so true.

Growing up, my mother only had a few recipes that were served over and over and over again.  We hardly ever tried anything new.

Now, there were always more than one kind of vegetable on the table at any meal, but my mom cooked them to DEATH!!  I am sure I mentioned it before, that I didn't know broccoli or asparagus were supposed to be green and not khaki colored and that they were supposed to have a "bite" to them and not be mushy.

No wonder I was never very adventurous with trying different vegetables.

I know, we all tend to blame our mother's for everything.  And while I'm not actually blaming my mother, it was growing up with my mother in the kitchen that formed my preferences into adulthood about vegetables.

Once we had our Darling Boy, I tried to include as many choices as I could, but now, being the "mother", I know that I didn't expose him to as many choices as I could have.  BUT, I always encouraged him to try new things, no matter where he was or whom he was with.  And, I'm glad to say that he always did and have a very well rounded list of items that he eats and prepares himself.

I think part of why I have gotten the gardening bug so badly is that I do want good, nutritious food.  I want to know where my food came from, how it was grown and how fresh it is.  There is no reason why everyone can't grow something in their yard, and if not in their yard, in containers on their deck.  It really isn't that hard or expensive, and it does not take that much time.  Everyone of us could make such a statement if we grew some of our own food, even if it were just tomatoes and lettuce through the summer.

So many people spend thousands of dollars on landscaping their yards, and having a lawn service, just imagine if they instead spent one tenth of that on growing some of their own salad items?

I know, I'm not saying anything new, I'm just repeating what so many other's have said, I just felt like I needed to say it and share it.

Thank you for listening.