Obligatory Mitchell and Webb farming sketch.
this post was submitted on 22 May 2025
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Phase 2: they discover it's a pain and stop doing it.
I think this every time someone romanticizes living out in the country.
I live in the city now after years of living in the country, and I definitely wanna go back to the country. The only good thing about the city is that I can just walk across the street for groceries which are way more expensive here than where I moved from. City has more pests, too. Once in a while I'd see a field mouse get into the kitchen when I was living in the sticks. In the city, cockroaches and big fat fucking rats all the time, everywhere, the minute the sun goes down. It's gross.
The ideal city size is about 100k people. Big enough to have stuff to do, but small enough that you don't have to drive forever to do it.
If you think living in a big city involves driving anywhere routinely to begin with, you're doing it wrong.
It's the big city that does it wrong
Tell that to Houston.
Almost all of American cities I guess.
Yup. It's hard to do it right when the infrastructure doesn't exist.
Houston, we have a problem.
s/drive/take the train/
That's not an option for most of the US.
Oh God, that sounds awful. The worst we've ever had was ants, which are gross but manageable with some bait traps.
Garlic has to be one of the easiest things ever to grow. Doesn't care about soil, super hardy and drought tolerant, put in the ground and water it. Or if you live somewhere where it rains you don't even need to do that. Great guerilla crop because it it doesn't need anything.
It's a slow grow though. My yard has limited sun so I don't dedicate space to it just because it's slow
My grandfather was an avid gardener and would always say "gardening is the best way to overpay for your tomatoes". It can be a fun hobby but there's no way you're growing food cheaper than farmers.
Edit: if you think you can produce food more efficiently than professional farmers, you should quit your job and do it professionally yourself! We can all use some cheaper food!
For me it's not about have cheeper food, its more about food independence. I love being able to just go out in the garden and pick a carrot and eat it right there.
I don't understand how you get downvoted so much. Right now tomatoes are in season and are like 1.39€ per kg. Within a walking distance of 15 minutes I have about 5 supermarkets.
If you have a lot of free time and don't calculate labor costs for this time and you have an acre at your hand like someone's poor grandparents in the other comments, like, ok, feel free to plant tomatoes. (Actually, feel free to plant tomatoes even if you don't.) Minimum wage is about 12€ here. Seeds, soil, buckets (not sure of the English term) also cost money. I only got a balcony, with limited sun exposure too. Like, I still decided to try and grow some crap this year, but it is definitely not worth it moneywise.
You don't need an acre of land. You can grow tomates in pots and keep them on your balcony (if it gets enough sun), even in a relatively northen climate, as long as it is the season. You will need to water them and prune them occasionally, but it is not really a lot of work. And it will keep you in tomatoes for several months. That is definitely cheaper than anything professional farmers can produce.
It will not replace storebought produce, but it is a very nice supplement.
I think you are missing the point. You spend months of "not a lot of work" for 1-2kg of tomatoes (If your harvest is good)?
At this scale, is nothing but a hobby where you get some nice food at the end, if you are lucky.
It doesn't take months of active work, though. The plant does the work and you just check on it now and then, and grab a tomato when you need one. And as long as you save a tomato, you can keep going basically forever.
Some people just like downvoting. Thanks for the reply!
The real reason to garden is for higher quality or because you simply enjoy the activity.
Had a brief glimpse of tomato heaven thanks to my neighbour’s backyard Eden. Now I’m back in hell, forking over my dollarydoos for tomatoes that taste like disappointment and microplastics.
I'd disagree, my grandparents were very very poor, but they grew up in farming country and had an acre. They wouldn't be able to have had a garden if it meant putting in more money than buying.
Even with my own gardening expirence I've put a lot of money in personally for longevity and ability to move my garden in the future, but I 100% could have tilled up soil and planted some tomatoes for very cheap.
very very poor
had an acre
Sounds like they already had something that dramatically changes the cost/benefit analysis, compared to someone considering gardening from scratch.
Someone with a few raised beds isn't going to be able to compete with the economies of scale of a full acre of farmland.
I mean they didn't farm the whole acre, their garden plot was maybe 10 x 10 ft.
More than I can do in my town home, but not crazy.
Also economies of scale is a poor argument when it comes to farming. Prices on many crops is fixed by the Government. So yes they can produce food much cheaper, but they fix the price to be higher. If it wasn't for the government corn at our current rate of production would be nearly free, but it's artificially inflated.
I wanted to come back and address a few things in an edit. It seems like you're trying to imply they weren't poor and I'd like to address a few things. Firstly in the deep south, especially 50 years ago when they got the property, land was cheap and available. Many people owned some land and not much else. Hence the concept of "land rich" "cash poor". Plus selling your home is not a smart way to pay the bills. Secondly, they got the land after my great grandparents died the land was generational anyway. Thirdly, sure they had a house, but that didn't stop them from having to pick and choose between food and medicine. That didn't change the fact that my grandfather had no shoes for a period. I bought him a pair when I found out, but that's how he was. He'd rather do without than ask for help.
To adress the second part of your attempted "gotcha" yes having space to garden is a prerequisite to gardening, then uh yeah it is. The other option is leasing some land for a small garden, and yeah of course that's going to be expensive
My grandparents also had a garden plot of food plants, and my parents too. It didn't take much money or work.
It's cheaper and easier to get higher quality by gardening for some veggies, like tomatoes. It is, however, more work than buying from a store. Part of the reason being the varieties and practices required for centralized, commercial agriculture. Mainly, varieties chosen for durability in transport rather than flavor or nutrition.
I hate well known methods being referred to as "hacks".
I do pottery and clay reclaiming is something literally every potter learns how to do and knows what it is and has probably done it since the dawn of human civilization. Then I see some YouTube short claiming they discovered an "infinite clay hack". 🤦♂️
I got this issue with the word "reference". I Remember when the mario movie came out, and every video, every person, every whatever, did not stop finding "references". If a mushroom were in Mario's room it was a reference... Did people recall that is a mario movie....? And do they remember the fact that mushrooms belong to Mario's universe? Those are not a reference, god
They're a reference to... themselves!
This reminds me of that Mitchell and Webb sketch about farming.
I appreciate the ubiquitous nature of the "are we the baddies" sketch... but I wish more folks were more aware of everything else they've done I maintain that there's a relevant Mitchell and Webb sketch for almost every imaginable scenario.
I don’t even care, I’ll watch this every time it gets posted.
Clicked into the comments specifically to see this was posted and watch it for the millionth time.
You cannot lose!
Honestly I'd much rather see homesteading cycle in and out of the public zeitgeist than the trends of felonies disguised as "challenges."
One more fucktoid tries to play around with doing dumbshit on the road, and I'm going to un-air their tyres.
People, just make sure you let your garlic over winter.
How so
Plant the bulbs before winter.
I mean why so
Garlic needs a cold period before the ground freezes in order for the bulbs to form. Without it, the garlic will only form a tiny bulb, if it forms one at all.
Good tip.