Appreciating the true cost

Every year about this time I spend countless hours planning and preparing and planting our gardens. Many believe it is fairly easy to plant a garden and then reap the rewards, but it really isn't. I have had countless individuals offer to buy the seed for a share of the vegetable bounty. Buying the seed is probably the easiest part. Spend a couple bucks for a couple dozen tomato seeds and just wait for the red ripe tomatoes. But it's not that easy.

When someone bites into one of my tomatoes or zucchini or a new potato, there is a lot of sweat and labor behind the goodie. Most evenings from the middle of January until spring, I spend time in my little work room nurturing my tomato or pepper plants. As spring gets closer, I add eggplant, zucchini, watermelon and the list gets longer and longer. And with the addition of each of the varieties, I spend more and more time.

In the spring I begin prepping the soil and planting the veggies. The more one plants, the more time it takes. Even as I write this article, I still have a couple garden crops I need to get planted. But little by little, we'll get everything planted. I finished planting our green snap beans over the weekend. Now it would be nice if we could get a little sprinkle.

But planting is the beginning. Now we need to keep the garden relatively free from weeds. Here in Missouri, this seems almost impossible. I use a dripper line so the only place that gets watered is on the garden veggie, but we get enough rainfall (about 50 inches yearly) that the weeds grow exponentially. I honestly think one could sit and watch them grow.

I use the tiller where I can, use the rogue hoe where I can and then hand pull some as well. Most every day the dirtiest place on my pants is my knees from crawling along weeding or planting or harvesting. If the weather is nice, I spend time in the outside gardens. If the day is rainy and wet, I spend the time in the high tunnels. Weeding is a fact of life for the gardener. Weeding will continue until fall.

Once the produce is ready to harvest, we go ahead and pick the goodies. We eat some, can some and also freeze some. We make sauerkraut and all kinds of pickles. Among my favorite preserved goodies are dill pickles, ice box pickles, whole tomatoes, tomato juice and canned green beans. But it takes a lot of time to prep and can the veggies.

I guess what I'm saying is that behind every vegetable that comes out of our garden or jar we have canned there is a lot of sweat involved. I call it "sweat equity." My wife and I have invested a ton of sweat and labor so we can grow and produce veggies. And, honestly, until you have helped grow the vegetable yourself, one has no idea what producing the vegetable truly costs.

The same is true about the beef or pork or chickens we eat on a daily basis. We spend a few dollars buying a chicken or some pork or beef, but we really never see what it costs the producer to grow and supply them for our consumption. Or when we slip on a pair of bib overalls or a pair of jeans, do we realize what it took to make them? Every item we as consumers use on a daily basis cost someone effort and "sweat," if you will.

When we lose contact with the farmer or seamstress or the producer or the one who has "sweat equity" in the item, we have lost something very valuable. It almost seems like the item becomes something we just use instead of having an intrinsic value. My wife and I buy red and yellow and orange bell peppers at Aldi. Probably for some they are just peppers. For me, I see the work involved, the sweat and the sacrifice to grow them. The item has a value that goes beyond the $1.29 to buy it.

It seems like those we have elected to office today have lost touch with what it costs the taxpayer to pay their wages and for the programs they are voting into law. It's like once they are in office, they have won the lottery. So they take the credit card we have given them and they spend. But they no longer see Joe working two jobs to make ends meet, or Betty having to work overtime just to put food on the table. Our leaders no longer see the "sweat equity" in the money they are spending. But this isn't just the politicians; it's those in the entertainment industry and professional sports and the list goes on and on. When anyone receives anything with no idea of what it costs to supply it, we have failed as a society.

There has been a lot of talk about forgiving student loans. But are the students spending the borrowed money realizing what it costs taxpayers to provide it? Aid is given to countless individuals today from our government. But shouldn't these same individuals be made to realize what it costs John Doe to provide the resources?

When I get up every morning in America as a free individual, I need to thank the countless individuals who have made the sacrifice to make this possible. Many have given their lives, while others have ended up crippled for life. Our prayer list for dang sure ought to include those who left a piece of themselves protecting our freedom. Those soldiers have sweat blood for our freedom.